Drying with Moderate Heat Here's info on how various types of wood will respond to conditions in a home-built drying room that doesn't get much warmer than 120°F. There's a useful lecture here on how case-hardening occurs. May 16, 2008

Drying Oak Lumber: Step 4A, Air Drying Flat, solid support, maintaining an optimal air flow, and protecting the pile from re-wetting by rain are the keys to quality results when air-drying sawn lumber. August 27, 2012

Sawing Walnut: Sapwood and Heartwood Here's a discussion about the proportions of heartwood and sapwood in a Walnut log, drying methods, and the value of both for furniture, bowls, et cetera. May 15, 2012

Pitch Build-Up When Planing Air-Dried Pine There's no way to stop Pine pitch from gumming up machinery, short of kiln-drying the lumber. (This thread has some interesting asides about using your own sawn wood for construction.) April 27, 2011

Case Hardening Explained A semi-technical discussion about how the wood drying process can create stresses between interior and surface wood layers — and about how to reduce or prevent that situation. January 19, 2012

Finish Over Air-Dried Pine Soft resin and volatile natural solvents in softwoods will interfere with finishes unless the wood is kiln-dried at a high enough temperature to "set the pitch."August 17, 2009

Borates for Protecting Oak Beams Borate treatments can provide good protection against insects for softwood that is kept dry, but has limited usefulness on hardwood, especially if exposed to rain. January 14, 2008

End Checking and Sticker Placement Placing stickers very close to the ends of the lumber stack can help limit end checking. This thread also offers additional tips on preventing checking. November 16, 2010

Moisture Content of Western Red Cedar A stable wood that is typically serves exterior uses, Western Red Cedar is usually delivered at about 12% moisture content. But you can find it drier than that. July 28, 2006

Drying Time for 6/4 Red Oak Here's a quick technical look at the factors affecting kiln drying 6/4 Red Oak, including kiln type and initial moisture content. Air drying may be more cost-effective. July 16, 2012

Protecting Fresh Wood from Bugs Chemical means have drawbacks and are not very effective. So good drying and careful hygeine in the the yard are your best methods for keeping wood bug-free. April 20, 2011

Air Drying Shed Design A couple of basic tips, plus an example of a simple drying shed for rough sawn lumber. April 21, 2011

Mold on Southern Pine The wood doctor explains why Southern Pine supposedly dried to 18% moisture content would still support mold after being stacked inside a dried-in house under construction. January 25, 2013

Sticker Thickness and Sources For good air circulation, stickers need to be at least 3/4 inches thick. Here are ideas on where to get them. October 25, 2006

Air-Dried Wood for Furniture As this example demonstrates, when a people tell you your air-dried lumber won't make a sweet (and sweet-smelling) piece of furniture, sometimes it's because they want to take your wood away for free. January 11, 2007

Will Ocean Shipping Damage Teak? A sawmiller worries that a load of teak he has ordered from a South American supplier may suffer mold damage en route. The feedback indicates he should relax. December 1, 2005

Air-Drying Thick Maple Four-inch-thick maple slabs are likely to degrade a lot during air-drying. Here are a few tips for better results. July 13, 2006

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